Exemplary embodiments herein generally relate to a melting furnace system, and, more particularly, to a quiet bucket charge for a melting furnace system.
In the casting industry, a metal object is created from the solidification of molten metal in a mold that defines the shape of the object. The metal typically arrives at a casting facility in the form of solid metal bars, generally referred to as ingots. A melting furnace utilizes the ingot bars as its charge material. The ingots generally arrive in a bundle arrangement (e.g., stacked on a palette and secured thereto by a metal banding or the like). The ingots have to be removed from the stack and then carried to a hearth or furnace where the ingots are heated to the molten state required for injection into the mold. When a melting system is employed at a casting facility, the stack can be loaded automatically where it is either broken up or dumped into a bucket via a conveyor, which can require additional equipment and can cause excessive noise. It can also be de-stacked and dropped into a bucket, which again requires extra equipment, high maintenance and can cause excessive noise. The stack of ingots can also be loaded manually (e.g., via a tow motor) into a bucket that requires a manned process. The bucket then drops the ingots into a furnace where the ingots are heated. As the ingots melt, the metal trickles into a bath, where a ladle dips out an amount of the molten metal for injection into a mold. The problems with the current automatic loading methods are the additional equipment that must be purchased, downtime from the extra equipment and associated spare parts costs, and noise to the environment. Further, with the known loading methods, the operator of the casting equipment oftentimes has to stop the equipment, while ingots are being loaded, for example on the conveyor of the melting furnace system. Accordingly, the production of the metal objects can be delayed.